Saturday, January 15, 2011

Now here is a change of pace for me – I’m going to be teaching Spanish at the High School for the next 6 months! One of the teachers at the UkarumpaInternationalSchool had to leave PNG suddenly due to unexpected medical issues in the family, and the school was left scrambling for someone to cover the Spanish III class at the last minute. I had been looking for a more regular part-time job now that Greg is a bit older, and I thought this sounded like fun. It’s been a few years since I’ve used my Spanish, and I’m glad that now I’ll have the opportunity to use it so that I don’t forget it entirely. And so for the last week Brian has had to deal with my huge collection of course materials that I have spread out everywhere, as I attempt to get a handle on the curriculum and prepare for my first day of class, which will be next Wednesday.

Even though this role isn’t directly involved with Bible Translation, I think the school is very important to our work here. After all, if the kids aren’t thriving, the whole family is going to leave the field and go home. The students in my class have parents who work on center as pilots, nurses, translators, teachers, and media specialists. By helping to teach their kids, I am allowing them to remain here to do their jobs. The UkarumpaInternationalSchool is arguably one of the best High Schools in the country, and its students also come from other missions agencies and a large number of Papua New Guineans attend there as well.